Your truck will never ride all that great, even when new I doubt it rode nice, it is a truck after all! Just look at a '36 car next to a '36 truck, they are really totally different animals. Cars were designed to ride nice, trucks were made to haul.
Heres where I am with my '37, it might give you some ideas which way to go.
I went with disk brakes on mine since the fronts were rusted away and rears were some odd ball set up. Its was the easiest route to go since I upgraded to a '79 rear axle. Mine stops OK, but I still wouldn't enter any stopping contest! I'm not sure which way it will go if I had to really stand on them, I just hope it goes in a straight line.
Steering is another issue I worked on for a while, I have had four steering boxes in the truck over the years. I now have a rebuilt with NOS parts '41 truck steering box. It bolted right in and uses roller balls inside for easier steering and has a slower ratio which also makes for easy steering (more turns lock to lock). I did cut the top of the steering shaft off and weld on a '37 end so I could keep the '37 wheel and column tube. You would never know by looking that its a different gear box, yet driving it makes a world of difference. Its still nothing like power steering, but way better then stock was. The narrow radial tires help along with the modern tie-rod ends. I switched out the ball and socket tie-rod and drag-link ends to the newer modern ends found on the '50s trucks.
As for ride, I have been working on that for years. I am happy with it now, its not new truck smooth, but not so bad it beats you to death. I ended up with less leafs per spring pack, teflon liner between leafs, and a soft modern tube shock per wheel. A 200 mile ride doesn't feel like 2000 any more.
Joe
